Quirk Books just sent me two art books.
The first is a blank to me. Try as I
might I can see nothing at all-and that's a good thing. For the first time nothing is really something!
Fill In The Blank is an inspirational sketch book that allows readers to
provide their own art in a truly unique way.
With the proliferation of images on almost anything and anywhere what better
way to kick in the creative juices than by providing things to write and draw
on?
Here's how it works. Fill In the
Black provides readers with images of billboards, armcasts, fingernails, indoor
decor, empty skies and dozens of other objects and views where readers fill in
the blank spaces with whatever images, art or words they desire.
It's sort of a mass media, popular culture, create your own statement
collection of photos.
I plan on using some of the images in my drawing classes I teach. What a great way to jumpstart the creative
process!
In this age of computers, I-Pads, I-Pods, digital this and digital that art
and graphics have never been easier to create and it's available to everyone.
Novices with no art experience at all can create all sorts of images in all
sorts of formats. That wasn't always the
case.
Not that long ago art had to be created all by hand. Even printed material such as billboards,
signs, posters, brochures and the like had to be drawn, colored and laid out by
hand.
High speed, multi-function printing presses did not exist 75 years ago. Modern
inks with their brilliant colors and high gloss paper were years away. Most work was done in stages with colors
being laid out individually and with a limited selection to choose from.
Projects that take hours today took days, even weeks, to complete back then. And yet, much of the art from that era is as
vibrant and beautiful as anything produced today.
Posters For The People: Art Of The WPA created during the New Deal 75 years ago as compiled by Ennis Carter is
filled with art created for events, causes, locations, industry, the government
and all walks of life.
Produced by out-of-work artists during the 1930s and 1940s, the WPA (Works
Progress Administration) pieces of art are marvels of technical and artistic
ingenuity made during a time when our country was in the throws of the Great
Depression.